Darren Clarke was on fire over his closing holes in yesterday's second round of the Sprint International tournament, making five birdies on the back nine from the 12th to shoot a back nine of 31 for a round of 68 and a score of 14 points going into the third round.
As play finished last night this gave Clarke a share of 34th, with four other players including Jesper Parnevik and Greg Norman. David Toms was the unlikely leader. "I holed a few putts on the back nine which was nice," said Clarke. "I missed everything round the front again and after having 17 putts I was very frustrated a la last week. I hit some good shots round the back nine and five under for the last seven is pretty good," said a delighted Clarke on his return to form.
"At 12 I hit wedge to 10 foot and holed it, at 14 I hit driver, five wood into the trap and out to a foot. At the next I hit a lob wedge to three feet. I hit five iron just off the right edge at 17 and had two putts and then at the last after a good drive we got the wind a little bit wrong but I holed a good one from the back of the green from 35 feet.
"Sometimes the ball goes a little bit further than you think it will and it's not always easy to get the right club at this elevation, but we are not doing too badly," he said commenting on the 6,100-foot elevation of the Castle Pines course.
The respite Clarke he gained from the two storm delays that totalled three hours during Thursdays first round did the English Open Champion a power of good, as he went back on the course late in the evening, fired a three-under-par 33 over the front nine and finished in near darkness, handing in a 71 for five points.
This had placed Clarke in the middle of the field going into the second round but the pressure of missing the cut in successive weeks in the United States was removed by his fine play yesterday
Toms leads the tournament from Paul Goydos with David Duval and Chris Perry tied for third. Shooting six birdies in his first 10 holes and an eagle three at the 623d yard 14th hole, Sergio Garcia shot up the leaderboard and ended the day tied 11th.
Lee Westwood, with five birdies and just one dropped shot at his final hole reached 13 points, while Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal made four birdies and an eagle to finish on 16 points.
BEAVERSTOWN'S Gary Cullen is the top Irishman as the third and final round of the European Amateur Individual championship gets under way at Celtic Manor, Newport, today.
Cullen fired a second round 74 to add to his 72 of the previous day for a 146 total, but he knows he has no realistic chance of catching leader Barry Hume, who is eight strokes clear of him.
"There were no fireworks in my round, although it was pretty solid," said 21-year old long hitting Cullen.
Paddy Gribben defending the title he won in Bordeaux last year, returned a 73 for a 148 aggregate and is resigned to losing his crown. Royal Dublin's Eamonn Brady had a 77, but finished with a birdie four and that helped him to make the cut into the last round.
146 - G Cullen (Beaverstown);
148 - P Gribben (Warrentpoint)
150 - A McCormick (Scrabbo)
151 - E Brady (R.Dublin); E Feely (unatt)
153 - C McMonagle (Donegal)
154 - K Kearney (Galway)
A SUPER three under par final round of 68 earned Martin McTernan (Co Sligo) victory in the Irish Boys' Amateur Close championship which concluded at Kilkenny Golf Club yesterday.
McTernan is only 15 years-ofage, but showed nerves of steel in the closing round to clinch a magnificent victory. All facets of his game were strong and he finished three shots clear of Mark O'Sullivan from Galway, who had an impressive closing round of 69.
Philip McLaughlin (Ballyliffin) won the under-17 trophy, clinching the Tom Montgomery Award as the outstanding player in the order of merit table for all the Boys' Championships this year.
The Irish qualifiers For the Faldo series are: Martin McTernan (under-15); Mark Kennedy (under-16); Philip McLaughlin (under-17); Mark O'Sullivan (under-18).
